Nearpod: presenting with mobility and interactivity

NearPod is a great way to present with mobility and interactivity. It works across all platforms (iOS, Android, Windows and Web App) Presentations can be synchronised across devices and controlled by the presenter or be self paced “homework” exercises (paid plans).

Presenting with Nearpod not only gives great mobility options and interactivity but it ticks a whole lot of “engagement” boxes in the process! #whoohooo

Nearpod presentations (NPP) can include all sorts of media and content including powerpoint slides, pdfs, images, slideshow of images (paid), videos as a file, youtube videos, audio and a “shared webpage” without leaving the app. Interactivity can be of the form of polls and quizzes, “draw it” exercises and open ended questions.

Presenters can see all students progress on their screens as presentation runs and then individual answers can be shared to all devices as can results from polls and quizzes. Full session reports can be downloaded showing all interactions and progress as a beautiful pdf or as a csv file (if you have a paid subscription)

Nearpod Options:

There are a range of options from free to district edition models available.The free version is restricted by total storage of 50MB and presentation maximum size of 20MB also only 30 students per presentation, no “homework” self paced option, small Nearpod logo on your slides, reports can only as pdf and no school admin tools.Paid Versions: allow for larger storage and larger individual presentations, more students per session, greater reporting options and school admin tools. The options increase as you go up the scale. We will add to this page with details of the Schools account.Read all about the options here

Nearpod for Presenting:

Nearpod can be fantastic on so many fronts. For instance a “Visible Thinking” routine like “See-Think-Wonder” can come to life with three interactive open response activities added in to existing slides.

Controlling and synchronising a presentation while being mobile can in itself be a powerful experience as a presenter. Upload slides into Nearpod, turn up to class, give the code, drive it! The class move to their screen when you change it much easier than to the projector (especially as you can move around)

Direct your audience to the exact website or Youtube clip you want without having to leave the app.

Being able to see responses and get students who are on track to add to their responses. Also give the quiet students a voice and help build confidence by reading their response or getting them to read it or pushing their response onto everyones devices.

MORE TO COME!!!!!!!

Nearpod Tips and Tricks: (always growing!)

As with any presentation, thinking about your end point and what you want to get out of the presentation needs to be paramount. “Just because a tool has bells and whistles doesn’t mean they should all be used! ”

Some Suggestions – Tips and Tricks:
– Being able to see responses as they come in means you can choose someone who is on target before asking for answers. Throw their response to all devices and ask for them to speak to it.
– 4:3 layout works best (for now) ie. iPad screen shots and non widescreen landscape presentations.
– Do your layout main slides and organisation primarily in PowerPoint of Keynote and save as a pdf at the end for simple uploading.
– On an iPad you can “open in” Nearpod to take your presentation straight to Nearpod from Keynote, Explain Everything etc etc (make sure you log in to Nearpod before doing this!)
– Using web content well with the “share webpage” option opens all sorts of doors to any web resources!! ( needed 2 exclamation marks!!)
– Screenshots are SOOO powerful. Grab them and create a new file from photos in Explain Everything to easily create a pdf of all your screenshots that can be opened in Nearpod. Alternatively drop them in one by one into Keynote and “open in” as pdf to Nearpod.
– Drawings” can include pictures as the background hence work can be done in another app with a screen shot and uploaded and annotate if needed.
– Having earphones for participants means inbuilt videos can be watched at their pace without babble!
– APPS in APPS content from other websites can be built in at the appropriate time in your presentation. eg. A 60s solving equations game starts as you move to the slide and you move on when it is done!
– PS! editing is easier on iPads!STAY TUNED FOR MORE IDEAS!! time!!!!

Sharing and Libraries:

You can share your presentation to other Nearpod users by going to “create” then selecting an existing presentation, then use the “…more” menu to choose “share”SHARE: create>choose>…more>shareWe are yet to test shared libraries that can be accessed across a school or district. We will post soon as we get our licence and test it out!

Summary:

This is well worth a serious explore. Start out with a free account to get a great feel for it all.

Page UPDATES:This page will be updated and “enhanced” over time through response to feedback and comments as well as responding to updates and changes.12 June 2014 page created and shared